Five Poems by Bradford Middleton

 

I JUST WON’T

 

The morning crawled to bed as sleep took

Me into her blessed grip just after breakfast

& the next thing I knew it was nearly

Lunchtime & I thought I can’t keep on like

This.  I looked from my window & the

Sun shone right on in but today it made

Me crave its warmth & soon I hit the

Street & as I walked it felt good but,

Alas, sooner rather than later I turned

Back towards my room & as the afternoon

Came a knocking it felt cool, at last, &

Somehow I knew just how it was going

To pan out.  I rolled a good one, a real

Good one in fact & soon was losing my

Mind to those most toxic of brothers Mr

Cheech & Mr Chong & I was high & I

Was laughing & then suddenly poor old

Cheech is locked up, psych ward no less,

The full works in fact, straight-jacket &

All that.

 

He crawls the floor in desperation begging

For any kind of attention as his balls

Itch & it made me think, madness, it’s

The treatment that’ll get you if you let them

Get at you but I won’t, I just won’t!

 

 

SLINGING ARROWS

 

People have been slinging arrows at

Me my entire life but so far, a few

Scars besides, none have proven fatal

Although a couple came close many

Decades ago but now, well now, I

Almost feel at ease with this life;

My new job started last night and

Already seems a world away from

The constant hassle and inner-city

Glare of need, greed and my own

Near certain demise if I’d been forced

To stay there working the horror that

Was the checkout of doom.

 

 

SHE’S GONE & I’M FREE!!!

 

My feet are up on a couch resting as if

In my own private heaven & I sit happy

For the first time in a while, a long old

While in fact, as work, at last, has been

Sorted but best of all is the demise of my

Psychic vampire!  

 

She came a hell of a

Lot closer to destroying me than all those

Years of hell on the check-out of doom

& as I know she’ll no longer have the

Chance to tell me to shut up so she can

Keep on and on and on with her insistence

Ramblings until my mind

Couldn’t take anymore & the only thing

To do was smash that record & throw it

In the garbage dump of history never

To be heard ever again as, at last,

I feel free!!!!

 

 

GOD-DAMN POETRY

 

I love you poetry, I love

How you give me insights

On this thing called life

That I’d never even consider

If it weren’t for you & this

Blessed machine which

Has been the centre of

My attention now for the

Best part of twenty years

& 1000 poems & still a

Life-time of this to come

& one day the dream that

There will be nothing else

To do but this…

 

 

POTENTIAL FOR NEW ADVENTURE

 

I walk to work now with a smile

Across my face & in my heart as

This freedom from food retail hell

Feels even better than I could

Ever imagine!

 

The drinking has calmed & my

Brain re-activated as now I

Don’t have to deal with this towns’

Crazies on a daily basis & I can

Feel a potential for new adventure

I ain’t felt it in years.

 

 

 

Bradford Middleton lives in Brighton on England’s south-coast where he works part-time in a budget book/art-supply shop. He was born in London during the long hot summer of 1971 and was the first in his family to make it to university. Recent poems appear in The Scum Rag, Hiram Poetry Review, the Acid Bath anthology Night Terrors, Yellow Mama, The Candid Review, Razur Cuts, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Broken Teacup and the Mad Swirl. He’s currently submitting his debut collection around the small presses.